


That Isn't Covered

by riotherself



Series: That Isn't Covered [1]
Category: Marvel (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Real World
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-12
Updated: 2016-05-12
Packaged: 2018-06-07 22:17:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,164
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6827308
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/riotherself/pseuds/riotherself
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the insurance world, super-being related claims are considered especially difficult to deal with. In the United States, the dedicated adjusters who investigate and pay these high-damage cases are members of an elite squad known as the Claims Department. These are their stories.</p>
            </blockquote>





	That Isn't Covered

**Author's Note:**

> so, i have to punch myself in the face a bit because i'm only posting this because i've had it in my gdocs for at least a year, but i thought it was just a silly in-joke with my friends. but now NBC has greenlit a TV show about it. and i officially can't sue them. so here we are.
> 
> yes, i do work for an insurance company. in the claims department.

Mondays are the worst. There’s always at least ten new files on her worklist, not to mention the files from people that decide to wait until that day to call in that will be transferred out to the available adjusters. She’s considered not taking off weekends before. It might be less work in the long run, she’s reasoned, since it might cut down on the amount of time she spends in the office per day. Then again, she’d probably just end up staying late on the weekends, too.

“Welch, make sure you close those files from last week,” her supervisor says off-handedly. Elle's been the top adjuster on the floor for the past two months and her supervisor knows she’s more than capable. At this point, it's just routine to remind her.

“I know, boss, I know. Two calls and a letter.” Elle doesn’t let any file sit on her desk too long. It’s messy and practically gives her a rash. She calls her clients to set up the inspection so that the claim can be paid, if they don’t answer, she sends out a letter to notify them that the inspection is necessary and if she does not hear from the insured she will close the file, then she calls them one more time. The letter is what usually gets people to call back and set things up. They hate that word, ‘closed’. Of course, Elle always explains to them that it doesn’t mean they can’t use their coverage, it just means that she isn’t going to follow up on the file anymore.

She opens her systems for the day and looks at her file home. Yep, there they all are, nice and red and ominous. She sighs loudly. She used to have stress dreams about work, just flashes of her desktop covered in file folders, her screen full of red text. That’s when she stopped watching the news. At least then she wouldn’t start to preemptively guess how many of those business owners, families in apartments, and cars were insured with her company and how many of those files would be assigned to her.

She makes her first calls of the day, leaving the new files until later, maybe she’ll look them over and work them after her coffee is finished.

“Ma’am, I understand that your front window is damaged and I do, truly, apologize. We can take care of that, but your policy doesn’t have coverage to take care of your salt and pepper shaker collection,” she says in the sweetest tone, not letting the exasperation evident on her face soak into her voice.

“Young lady, what do you mean? That alien invasion didn’t just destroy my window! A flying space motorcycle flew through my front room and destroyed everything in it!” She feels her patience thinning. She’s been on the phone with this woman for fifteen minutes, trying to explain the same thing the entire time. It’s gotten to the point where she doesn’t know if the woman is being purposefully obtuse in hopes of pulling the ‘I want to speak to your supervisor’ card and getting something for free or if the woman is just an idiot. 

“I mean the coverages you have chosen for your policy do not include replacement of certain valuables without an appraisal on our file.” It’s nothing different than any other company, she wants to add. It’s one of the easiest ways to prevent fraud. If someone has an appraisal done and has the valuable insured, the company can rely more heavily that the claim is legitimate, not to mention the fact that the insured will be paying a certain amount to insure the valuable. Meanwhile, if someone claims Captain America’s shield came through their window and destroyed their priceless antique grandfather clock, it’s much harder to prove that the item was actually owned by the insured and its actual worth.

“Well, I pay my monthly fees!” Elle can’t count how many times she’s heard this. People buy their policy and just look at the amount they have to pay per month, they rarely check what the coverages actually are or read the contract. They’re required by their landlord or lienholder to have coverage or they’re warned by their friends about the various damages caused in the city, but they don’t check what the small print is. 

“I know, ma’am, but again, the coverages you pay for do not allow me to do anything about any damage besides the damage to your building.” The exasperation is starting to leak through.

The woman sounds indignant at this point. “Transfer me to your supervisor.” Elle explains that her supervisor will tell the woman the same thing, but the woman insists. Elle can’t help but feel slight victory in the fact that the woman isn’t going to get anything for free. Her supervisor will say the same thing and either the woman will say that she’s going to switch to another company (which is only so likely, given that the woman bought the cheapest policy she could and getting coverage that she wants is going to cost more no matter who she gets quotes from) or the woman will accept Elle’s supervisor telling her the same thing that Elle did.

Elle gladly transfers the woman to her supervisor. Maybe now she can actually get some work done.

\--

Forty-five minutes is a really short amount of time when Elle knows she’s going to have to get through another four hours before she can even think about going home. The break room tv is always on and always turned to the news, so she can’t even try to stop thinking about destroyed cars and buildings for the short amount of time she doesn’t have to talk about it.

 _“Malibu Fire Department and Police Department are working tirelessly to try to limit the damages done by the so-called Mandarin, a terrorist bent on destruction. He called out local billionaire and superhero Tony Stark, creator of the Iron Man suit--”_

“Why do I have the sinking feeling that I’m going to talk to a lot of shitty Californians when I get back from lunch?” she asks no one in particular. Another person sits down beside her. 

“Californians are the worst, aren’t they?” She rolls her eyes. Elle recalls her name is Sarah, she sits a few sections over.

“Iron Man blew up my car!” Elle says in a mocking tone. 

“But, sir, you don’t have coverage for your car, I’m sorry.” Sarah’s tone is over the top dramatic and she clasps Elle’s shoulder for added humor. 

“What do you mean I didn’t choose to have the coverage? I don’t have a lienholder anymore so I nixed it three months ago to cut my costs, but I didn’t think of the consequences!” The two laugh to try to forget the fact that the conversation they just played out is going to be one they hear at least once before they leave today.


End file.
